I am changing my voter registration from Democrat to Independent. Enough is enough! Watching the Senate yesterday reiterated what I already knew to be true: we have a " One Party with Two Wings " system here in America. Factoring out Senators Feingold and Sanders, along with a handful of progressive Representatives, the US Congress is a joke! On top of that, these folks seem to have lost all sense of reality. The so called debate on Iraq should not be whether we stay, escalate or leave.... rather it should be whether we investigate the run-up to this illegal attack on a sovereign nation. Yet, our wonderful Senators, dapperly dressed to the tee, with only one of their club (Senator Webb ) having a child in that quagmire, argue over procedure and non binding resolutions. Disgraceful!

Just viewed, for the umpteenth time, JFK, Oliver Stone's film masterpiece, verifiably so by the incessant ridicule and riddling it took in the mainstream media after its release. It seems Stone took some poetic license here and there, yet never really straying from the main theme, that a " Coup D'etat " in November '63 forever changed the course of US foreign policy. At the end of the film, Jim Garrison, portrayed brilliantly by Kevin Costner, delivered his closing argument in the trial of Clay Shaw. His message was that we the people must demand, from our government and its minions, accountability for any and all actions. This need be magnified when the blood of our own and that of innocent civilians is shed.... for what.... extensions of empire or industry? In the film there is the mention of Eisenhower's farewell speech, warning of the " Military Industrial Complex ". Kennedy thus inherited a Pentagon replete with donors who were chomping at the bit to spend mega taxpayer dollars on wars, both overt and covert. To their chagrin, he dismissed the infamous and highly secret " Operation Northwoods". This dastardly plan, as explained in James Bamford's fine book " Body Of Secrets", was to initiate fake terrorist bombings on our soil and to shoot down our aircraft, and then blame it on Castro's Cuba- thus justifying an invasion. Kennedy was never forgiven by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who all approved the plan, and by the CIA bigwigs who originated it, for distancing his administration from these cold warrior fruitcakes. Stanley Kramer's black comedy/satire " Dr. Strangelove " captured the essence of this insanity on the screen.

History has this tremendous way of repeating itself. Today we face yet another debacle of extremist foreign policy. Sadly, there is little or no political dissent to this madness. Instead, most legislators posture and strut around, like roosters in a hen house during mating season. Totally disregarded is the cause of the dilemma- a phony rush to a phony war. " Impeachment is off the table " echoed Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Rangel, days after assuming control of the Congress. Excepting Feingold and Sanders, the Senate will not even consider cutting off the funding to this illegal occupation of Iraq. You see, where I come from, if the cops illegally charge into the wrong house, destroy most of it, killing many of the inhabitants, we don't want them to occupy it.... we want those who gave the orders to be indicted and imprisoned. So, 45 years ago it was the infamous domino theory regarding Communism. A theory perpetrated by the same Military Industrial Complex to justify more and more bombs and missiles and who knows what else in the way of chemical and biological WMDs. A phony war was instigated ( Gulf of Tonkin incident and resolution), then conducted in the name of saving America from those bloodthirsty Commies. The same Commies whose children now sell us Russkie oil and gas, and stock the shelves of Wal-Mart. The world has always had, and will always have, religious fanatics. The good news is that they will always be but a minority amongst even their own peoples..... except when some bully country stirs the pot and creates a recruitment surge for them.

Let's cut to the chase. Elements of my government, your government, most likely lied our nation into a fake war. Lied! The Downing Street Memo seems to solidify this theory, along with the countless testimonies of our own government analysts , who have finally come forth. Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Powell, Tenet and Miss Rice need to be brought before a court of inquiry. The occupation must end! The troops must be sent home, now! The Congress must be filled with men and women of conscience and high morals. " Let justice be served..... or the heavens fall!"

Philip A Farruggio is a free lance columnist, small business owner and activist leader. The son of a Brooklyn, N. Y longshoreman, he is blue collar through and through. Since 2000, he has had 60 columns and op-ed posted online in various sites, most notably Op-ed News, After downingstreet .org and counterpunch.com. He can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net

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Philip A Farruggio is an activist leader, free lance columnist and small businessman. He is blue collar from birth, as both his dad and grandad were Brooklyn , NYC longshoremen. Philip has a BA from Brooklyn College ( class of ' 74 ) in Speech & (more...)